-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Whose side are you on ?

A : I do n't like hockey .

-LRB- `` I ca n't see the puck . '' `` Too many fights . '' `` I do n't get the rules . '' `` I ca n't name a player except that Wayne what 's - his-name . Gatsby . '' -RRB-

Or :

B : I like hockey .

-LRB- `` A lot better in person than on TV . '' `` Baseball 's SO slow . '' `` Basketball 's all guys 8 feet tall . '' `` I would n't watch soccer if you paid me . '' -RRB-

Me , I am B.

Hockey and I are old friends . I grew up in Chicago , right now the hottest town on ice . I also lived in Detroit , the self-named `` Hockeytown , USA . '' I now reside in Los Angeles , current home of the game 's Stanley Cup .

-LRB- That 's the trophy that goes to the championship team , for those of you who would n't know a Stanley Cup from a sippy cup . -RRB-

The Chicago Blackhawks have been in the news . Why ? Well , that 's a good question . Because they win a lot ? Uh , kind of . Because they do n't lose ? Er , technically , no . I will try to explain it if you 've got a couple of minutes to kill .

-LRB- Which is also a hockey thing ... killing a couple of minutes while a guy 's in a penalty box . -RRB-

Chicago 's record is 21-0 . That 's how it looks in the National Hockey League 's standings , at least . W 21 , L 0 .

Are the Blackhawks unbeaten ? Um , no .

Bleacher Report : Top 25 all-time Chicago Blackhawks

It 's a little complicated . A hockey game no longer can end in a tie . It uses an overtime period to break a tie . If that does n't work , a `` shootout '' is held , similar to soccer 's . One-on-one vs. a goaltender until someone wins .

As a reward for extending a game to overtime , a team is given a bonus point by the NHL . So , even if you lose a game in extra time -- as the Blackhawks have -- you did n't `` lose . ''

Already knew that ? Hey , you obviously know your hockey !

-LRB- Quick trivia question : A team in Ohio is called the Columbus Blue Jackets . True or false ? -RRB-

If you are into pucks , you might be aware that the Blackhawks put together a pretty cool 30-game streak over a span of two seasons without being defeated in three 20-minute periods .

Chicago is aware . Chicago 's on fire . The team is the talk of the town . Cubs , schmubs .

On national TV 's sports news , the two smokin ' - hot teams have been basketball 's Miami Heat -LRB- beating almost everybody they play -RRB- and hockey 's Blackhawks -LRB- kinda sorta technically not losing to anybody they play -RRB- .

I suppose you have heard of Miami 's basketball star . His name is LeBron James . He grew up in Ohio , where he never once wanted to grow up to be a Blue Jacket . But he did tweet that the Blackhawks are AWESOME .

I do not know if you know who Chicago 's hockey stars are .

One of them is Jonathan Toews , which is pronounced `` Taves , '' not toes , not tweeze . He went to the University of North Dakota , as most great athletes do . -LRB- OK , maybe not `` most . '' -RRB-

Another one is Marian Hossa , which is pronounced `` Ho Sa , '' not hoss sa , not hah sa . He is from Stara Lubovna , Slovakia , where everybody probably watches him on CNN with no clue who LeBron James is .

A definite one is Patrick Kane , as in Citizen . He was born and raised in Buffalo , New York , where a boy is so lucky because he can play ice hockey outdoors 10 to 11 months a year .

Bleacher Report : Why the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks will go down as one of the best teams ever

Together with some sharp teammates , not the least of whom is Patrick Sharp , these guys have got Chicago rocking and rolling . From the time tenor Jim Cornelison operatically belts out our national anthem -LRB- or Canada 's -RRB- to the times they pump up the volume to `` Chelsea Dagger '' by the Fratellis to celebrate a Blackhawk goal , a home game at the United Center is usually loud , usually SRO and usually bigger than Bieber and Beyonce rolled into one .

If I exaggerate , sue me .

I checked with Jay Blunk to find out just how big things there are . Jay is the team 's executive vice president

`` We 've been very fortunate to experience unprecedented television ratings , '' he told me Wednesday . `` Merchandise sales have accelerated . The NHL announced that Jonathan Toews ' jersey sales were the number one-selling jersey in the country for the month of February . We also just passed the 200 consecutive-game sellout mark . Tickets have become some of the hottest regular season tickets in history . ''

If he exaggerates -- and I doubt it -- do n't sue me . I 'm enjoying this too much .

You see , it was n't so long ago my boyhood favorites the Blackhawks were skating on -LRB- insert `` thin ice '' cliche here -RRB- . They looked as dead in the water as a cruise ship . A great organization had become disorganized . A popular team to watch had disappeared off the radar . A team born in 1926 had turned into the Walking Dead -LRB- on skates -RRB- .

Chicagoans lost interest . They had Ditka 's Da Bears , followed by Jordan 's Da Bulls , followed by a 2003 Cubs team that could have won the World Series and a 2005 White Sox team that did .

I moved back there in 2003 . The bad Blackhawk team of 2003-04 played in 74 games and won 20 . ESPN the Magazine ranked it 119th of 120 franchises in all of sports , in terms of ownership , fan relations , players , coaching , intangibles such as `` bang for your buck , '' ahead of only the Houston Texans , a new pro football team with zero dark history .

Home games were n't even shown on TV . On the nightly news , sportscasters gave time to highlights from games of the Chicago Wolves , a minor-league team , almost as much as they did the Blackhawks . Hey , if I liked minor-league hockey , I 'd live in Rockford .

I seldom saw anybody in a Blackhawk jersey go out in public anymore , except maybe Mike Myers from `` Wayne 's World . ''

The 2004-05 season did n't happen . A union war broke out , and the NHL 's whole season was wiped out . Chicago basically yawned . The Blackhawks had n't won a Stanley Cup since 1961 . That was their first since 1938 .

Bleacher Report : How will history view this team ?

I was a hockey guy . I was n't just familiar with old-time hockey names such as Bobby Hull . I knew Kenny Wharram and Ab McDonald and `` Moose '' Vasko and Bill Hay . I thought of them as other Chicago sports fans might think of a Dick Butkus or an Ernie Banks .

So you can see , almost as exciting as winning 2010 's Stanley Cup was , why the 2013 superstart of the Blackhawks is a sight to behold .

Los Angeles finally cracked the ice ceiling in 2012 with the Kings ' first championship , which was a pleasure to watch . I have a daughter who recently asked whether I could get her hockey tickets . She did n't want One Direction or Lady Gaga . She wanted Kings versus Red Wings . I was so proud .

Hockey is n't for everybody .

It 's just for us cool people .

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mike Downey .

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The Chicago Blackhawks are on a winning streak

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Mike Downey : Home games are `` bigger than Bieber and Beyonce rolled into one ''

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Downey remembers when local Chicago TV stations did n't even carry Blackhawks games

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Before 2010 , the Blackhawks had n't won a Stanley Cup since 1961